1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to the general art of land vehicles, and to the particular field of safety belts or harnesses.
2. Discussion of the Related Art
Studies have concluded that wearing seat belts in a land vehicle saves many lives and prevents many injuries. In fact, many States have laws requiring the use of seat belts, and some insurance companies will not pay for injuries sustained in a land vehicle crash if a rider is shown not to have been wearing a seat belt.
Accordingly, the land vehicle art contains many examples of seat belts and seat belt systems. However, the inventor is not aware of any seat belt system that is suitable for use on a bus. A bus has passengers that get on and off the bus, and a single seat may have many such passengers during a single route. Unlike a car where a single passenger is in a seat for the entire trip, a bus has passengers in and out of seats all the time.
As such, a seat belt that is suitable for a passenger vehicle may not be suitable for use on a bus. One reason for this is that a passenger on a bus will require much greater ease of use of the seat belt than a passenger in a car since the bus passenger is likely to be in and out of the seat quickly, and may have to step over a fellow passenger to move into or out of the seat.
Therefore, there is a need for a seat belt system that is suitable for use on a bus.
The problems associated with seat belts in a bus are exacerbated when the passengers are children. Children may not have sufficient manual dexterity to operate a seat belt buckle, especially if there is some urgency to the operation, such as may be the case in an accident. Accordingly, some school buses do not have seat belts for this reason. However, since seat belts are so beneficial, especially in an accident, school buses should have seat belts.
Therefore, there is a need for a seat belt system that is suitable for use on a school bus.
The same reasoning applies to buses that carry passengers that may have manual dexterity deficiencies, such as the aged or the disabled.
Therefore, there is a need for a seat belt system that is suitable for use on a bus that may carry passengers having a manual dexterity deficiency.
Still further, a bus may carry passengers of all sizes; whereas, a car may have passengers that are generally the same each time. Accordingly, a seat belt system in a car does not need to be as easily adjustable as a seat belt system in a bus.
Therefore, there is a need for a seat belt system that is easily adjustable.
While adjustability is a goal, safety is much more important in the situation of a seat belt system. Accordingly, any seat belt system should be secure while being easily adjustable.
Therefore, there is a need for a seat belt system that is secure while still being easily adjustable and easily operated.
Since there are millions of buses presently on the road, to be most successful, any seat belt system must be easy and inexpensive to retrofit into an existing bus. If it is expensive or difficult to retrofit a seat belt system into an existing bus, such a system will not be used.
Therefore, there is a need for a seat belt system that is easily retrofit into an existing vehicle.